Gomez's Greatest Fear
by herecstasy
Summary: A 'what if' story, based on the 1991 movie. What if Fester hadn't intervened and saved Morticia and Gomez, leaving Morticia at the hands of Pinderschloss and Tully while Gomez must hurry to buy her freedom once more?
1. Chapter 1

Gomez gripped the steering wheel of his town car as he weaved in and out of the late-night traffic. His heart was racing in his chest, for the first time in his life he was truly fearful. More than once, the faithful disembodied hand sitting upon the dashboard had to jump in and redirect the car in order to avoid a crash. It had been a full fifteen minutes since Thing had witnessed the horror of seeing his mistress tortured by Tully, Dr. Pinderschloss and whoever this Fester-like imposter was. He had rushed back to the motel as fast as his fingers – and a brief ride on the bumper of a passing car – could take him, and woken Gomez, stumbling through various attempts to convey his message. The second Gomez had fathomed the situation, he had bade Thing to write a quick note of explanation for the remainder of the slumbering family, as he searched for the car keys. Rushing through the door with Thing at his feet, Gomez had jumped into the car and sped off to seek out his beloved wife, abject terror gnawing at his soul as he tried not to think of what awful scene might greet him once he arrived.

The chains that had prevented Gate from opening to his owner the day before had been removed, and the great iron barrier swung open in welcome as the car rolled up the drive. Gomez parked haphazardly against the house and glanced at Thing as he jumped from the car. Thing pointed towards the ground floor library, and Gomez followed his faithful pet. He peered through the window, and felt a red-hot rage grow in his chest as he beheld his worst nightmare come to life; his dark love, bound and stretched on their very own marital wheel of pain. He noted with alarm that Pinderschloss held a glowing poker in her hands as she began to cross the room, addressing 'Fester'. Gomez had seen enough. Spurred on by equal parts fear and anger, he jumped through the ornate window, followed quickly by Thing. His entrance thankfully stalled the villains briefly, as he called out his greeting to Morticia.

"Cara mia!"

Morticia's eyes flew to meet his, and her feeling of relief at his presence was almost immediately replaced by her worry for his welfare as she noticed Tully approaching him, brandishing one of Gomez's rapiers.

"Mon cher! Darling, take care!"

As he always did, Thing came to the rescue at that very moment, throwing his master a weapon, just in time. Gomez met Tully's first attempt on his life with ease.

"Dirty pool old man. Never again!" The light, joking tone with which Gomez had so often sparred with Tully during their business meetings was gone. Gomez was no longer joshing. He was fighting for his wife's life, and the seriousness of his task was not lost upon him. He knew Tully's moves well, and for the most part, matched him easily. A sight slip of concentration as he cast a worried glance at Morticia, keen to ensure that Pinderschloss was keeping her distance, and Gomez's lapse was rewarded with a sharp slash across the back of his hand.

Morticia gasped in horror as she saw the damage, wriggling with futility against her restraints. She longed to fight alongside her husband, and she felt an uncharacteristic anger upon seeing anyone but herself mark his skin. Gomez himself smiled drily as he glanced at his wound.

"One for you, Tully," he acknowledged, before retaliating with renewed vigour.

"And now..."

A little fancy footwork and not-so-little skill bought Gomez his victory. He stole the offending weapon from Tully's grasp, sending the rascal to his knees as Gomez held a sword at either side of Tully's worthless neck.

"One for me," Gomez concluded. Before he could consider his next move, however he heard the unwelcome sound of Pinderschloss's now accent-less voice from behind him.

"Let him up," she commanded, aiming a gun square at Gomez. A whimper from his wife's lips caused Gomez to turn in concern, that old feeling of helplessness flooding over his once again as he slowly released Tully from his prison.

"Now get moving Addams, take him to the vault," Pinderschloss continued, her pistol trained on Gomez as he began to walk across the floor, his mind already racing ten tot he dozen as he desperately searched for a way to cut Morticia loose and make their escape.

As Gomez passed his long-lost brother, he shot him a dark look, one rarely seen from the usually jovial Castilian. How could this loathsome creature – brother or not – stand by while Morticia was in such dire straits? Fester himself stood stock still, frozen to the spot. He hadn't reckoned upon the threat of injury or death as part of their great scheme. He was greedy and underhand, it is true, but he was no killer. Unfortunately for the Addams', he was also terribly afraid of his mother, his reluctance to act compounded by her next cruel statement.

"And if you're not back in one hour, I displace her."

Pinderschloss smirked darkly as she trained her weapon upon the powerless enchantress on the wheel. Gomez felt a shock of abject horror running through his veins as this wicked ultimatum registered. He could feel Morticia's eyes upon him, and glancing over at her, his heart melted at the helplessness etched upon her usually stoic face. He could not resist a swift change of direction as he neared the bookcase, sidestepping to stand by his wife's side.

"Oh Tish, seeing you like this, my blood boils," he murmured, gazing into those jet black eyes he so adored.

"As does mine," came her breathless reply. Gomez was aware of the gun still clutched in Pinderschloss' hands, although she had briefly lowered her aim in surprise at the unexpected interaction between two devoted souls about to be parted.

"This wheel of pain..."

"Our wheel," Morticia's voice was little more than a whisper now, the reminder of what pleasure had passed between husband and wife so many times upon that very wheel overriding everything else at that moment.

"To live without you, only that would be torture," Gomez professed, his eyes moving to his wife's red lips, all others present in the room forgotten as he fell under the spell, for the millionth time.

"A day alone; only that would be death," Morticia whispered, closing her eyes in anticipation of a farewell kiss from her beloved. Gomez fought to keep his hands from shaking as he leaned in, desperate to feel her lips against his once more.

"Knock it off!"

The most unwelcome interruption from Pinderschloss earned her grievous looks from the enamoured pair, Gomez's scowl deepening as Pinderschloss once more raised her gun. Gomez brushed his hand against Morticia's hip as he reluctantly made his way back towards the family vault. The anger inside his chest threatened to burst forth and he briefly considered snatching up the poker that Fester still held, attacking all three intruders and hang the consequences that he bought upon himself. But with Morticia in such peril, he couldn't allow himself to entertain such an idea. He would play fast and loose with his own safety it is true, but he would do anything in the world he was commanded if it would mean his darling one would be returned to him. His family wealth meant nothing in comparison to the threat of losing her. He turned to share one final look with his Tish, and the sorrow he saw in her eyes strengthened his resolve. He quickly crossed to the hidden lever, and pulled, casting a hateful glance at the man professing to be his brother who now joined him as they both stepped through the secret doorway together, leaving the most precious part of Gomez's life at the mercy of a crazed woman with a gun and a cowardly cad.


	2. Chapter 2

It seemed to Gomez an age, waiting for the secret door to slide closed behind himself and Fester, cutting him off from his beloved wife, tied and vulnerable and fully reliant on his return. Fester turned to speak to his estranged brother, a mixture of fear and genuine regret in his ghoulish eyes.

"Gomez..."

"Don't."

Gomez's tone was curt and yet somehow he managed to express an infinitesimal amount of destain in that one short word, as he turned on his heel and strode towards the mass of chains hanging from the ceiling, the second obstacle to overcome. Fester rushed to Gomez's side, wringing his hands in despair as the pair plunged down the twisting helter skelter. Gone were the joyful cries and amusement that had emanated from Gomez the last time they had descended together. Now Gomez's face was as of stone, as he tried not to think about what he had left behind, and the betrayal of this imposter who claimed himself to be his brother. Fester would never have sold out his family in this way. Whoever this man was, Gomez could be sure it wasn't his sibling. Any upset he felt over having believed that their seances had finally worked and then the joy of his family being whole again, only to have it taken away, was mitigated by the more pressing concern for his wife.

As they reached the bottom of the slide, Gomez leapt to his feet and in two steps had crossed to the gondola, moored up against the jetty. He cast off the line and jumped gracefully aboard, not reacting as Fester clumsily fell at his feet. The gramophone was playing an eerie adagio, quite matching Gomez's fractious mood as he forced the boat to speed through the dark underground canals and tunnels that lead eventually to the vault.

Once again disregarding _l'impostore_ as they arrived at their destination, Gomez made for the imposing door and spun the combination lock to 2, 10, 11 – eyes, fingers, toes. The door remained steadfastly locked.

"Cazzo!"

Gomez tried again and again, his fingers shaking. He could hear the clacking of loose metal parts, something in the mechanism had finally given way after so many years. He glanced at the antique pocket watch Morticia had given him on their fifth anniversary. Almost half of their time had already passed, and he had yet to consider how he would even transport the gold back once he got through. Why now, of all times, did his magnificent mansion with all its weird and wonderful trappings have to let him down? He cursed again and kicked at the door, earning himself a broken toe in the process. A weak voice at his side called him back to the present, and Gomez rounded on Fester as the latter spoke, staring at the ground, quite terrified of the look in Gomez's eyes.

"Gomez… what can I do?"

"You? Ha! You've done enough!" Gomez paced back and forth, gesturing wildly as the rage and fear that had been growing inside him for the past hour came spilling out.

"You turn up at my house, you claim to be my long lost brother, you bewitch my entire family! I tell you now, my brother, the real Fester, he would never betray the Addams family this way. You are no Addams! Now thanks to you and your twisted friends, my wife is in danger, and I cannot give her captors what they ask of me in return for her safety. All this because of YOU!"

As it always did when he grew impassioned, Gomez's Spanish accent was thicker than ever now, and his eyes flashed with unbridled anger as his shouts of rage echoed around the cavern.

Fester stood stock still, wringing his hands, his shoulders hunched up, making his oversized brown coat seem even bigger, his sallow eyes blinking back tears. He couldn't fathom why he felt so guilty. He knew he wasn't this man's brother, and yet the time he had spent with the family had been quite wonderful. Wednesday and Pugsley; they were such great kids. So keen to learn the dark ways of the world. Such promise in their black hearts. Fester shook his head as he thought of leaving them. It is true he had long been terrified of his mother, and perhaps she was right. He was a coward. He felt more for this collection of strange creatures than he did for his own mother. And now he had let them down. He fervently hoped that Morticia would be alright, but deep down he knew Pinderschloss and her wicked ways. She had no soul upon which to call. He feared that if Gomez and he didn't return within the hour, she would make good on her promise.

Opening his mouth to speak, Fester was shocked to see a sudden change in Gomez. His anger spent, he sank down to his knees in despair and leant against the stone wall. Tears filled his heavily-lidded eyes, and as he spoke, Gomez's voice cracked.

"I cannot lose her," he whispered. "Not my Tish. She is my reason for living."

Fester didn't dare speak. Gomez was talking more to himself than anyone else, staring into the dark waters they had sailed across only minutes earlier. Everything about him at that moment read 'defeat'. With none of the easy grace with which Gomez was blessed, Fester sat himself awkwardly down beside Gomez and listened.

"I never gave her a choice. The night I met Tish, I knew I had to have her. I couldn't live if she refused me, and I told her as much. I know that she loves me, how could I not? I am the man I am because of her love. But I sometimes wonder if she agreed to marry me that night out of a sense of duty."

Gomez toyed with the silver wedding ring on his finger as he leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Fester frowned as something strange began to take over him. Flashes of the Addams mansion, an unknown couple, older than him, sitting at the dining table. A young Gomez, resplendent in smoking jacket and moustache, the faint sounds of screams from some far off attic.

"I told Morticia only this morning that I would die for her," Gomez continued sadly. "I meant it from the bottom of my heart, and yet now..."

Suddenly, Gomez whirled around and with hands trembling, grabbed at Fester's arm.

"Take me in Tish's place," he begged. Fester could see he was quite mad with fear and began to reply, only to be interrupted once again.

"I don't care for the money, Fester. Have it all! The house, the gold, the estate. I don't want any of it. I just need to see my beloved one returned safely. Take me in her place until we can work out this dammed lock, but please… don't let my Morticia suffer for my mistakes."

Fester cast a glance at his half-crazed companion, and thought back to the scene they had left upstairs.

"Gomez, I don't..." He paused as the same odd feeling came over him again, those sepia-washed memories of a childhood spent in this very dwelling. Except of course they couldn't be his memories. He was Gordon, wasn't he?

"I am sorry Fester," Gomez said shortly. "For Flora and Fauna. I didn't mean to seduce them both. I certainly didn't mean to chase you away. You were my brother, Fester. Next to Morticia, you were the only one I could bare my soul to. Forgive me?"

"I will get us out of this," was all that Fester could manage to respond, not entirely sure he was still in this plane of reality at present, given the unusual images running through his head, clouded and confused. However one thing overrode all else for the Addams' Uncle at that very moment. He finally knew what he had to do. He patted Gomez on the shoulder, and scampered off, as far as his unwieldy gait would allow.

Gomez buried his head in his hands, silently addressing Morticia, knowing there was no chance she could hear him.

"I am sorry I let you down, cara mia. I can only hope that Fester can convince Tully to allow me to take your place. I'm on my way, Tish."

Shakily, Gomez rose to his feet and took a deep breath. He dove head first into the dark waters beneath the gondola, and swam with renewed vigour towards the underwater escape hatch he knew was not far from the jetty. As with so many hidden panels around the house, it lead eventually to the outside of the mansion, through the hatches beneath the conservatory windows. Thrown unceremoniously to the hard ground and drenched to the skin, Gomez forced himself to stand. Before he could approach the broken library window, the sound he dreaded most in the world met his ears. The unmistakable sound of a gun firing twice. Gomez reeled back against the wall in abject horror. His vision faded to black, and he heard nothing but his own grief-stricken screams echoing through the night. Images of his beloved filled his mind, and he opened his eyes to gaze unwillingly through the window. Morticia was released from the wheel, a crumpled heap on the ground, unmoving. His worst nightmare made real before him, Gomez scrambled through the broken glass surrounding the window frame as he desperately tried see through eyes clouded with tears. He didn't notice the myriad scratches and cuts he earned as his coat snagged on the glass and he ripped it from his arms in a fit of rage. Within seconds, he was kneeling by Morticia's side, tears raining upon her raven hair. Through the white noise that filled his ears, Gomez was almost convinced he could hear her soft voice calling his name, but by now the poor Castilian was quite out of his mind with grief. He rocked back and forth, sobbing Morticia's name over and again as he clutched her slight body in his arms.

A familiar pale hand reached up to stroke Gomez's tear-stained cheek, and the soothing voice Gomez adored so finally managed to break through to his conscious self.

"Gomez, hush, mon cher, all is well," Morticia pacified her husband, softly repeating her words over and again as she caressed his face, knowing that the shock of thinking he had lost his darling one would take quite some time to recover from.

Fester stood in the doorway to the library, silent and watching the tableau before him. He cried unashamedly as he watched his brother raise his head, staring unbelieving at first at his wife, unwilling to relinquish his hold on her. At long last, the reality of the situation began to dawn, and grief and reassurance gave way to relief and an impassioned embrace.


	3. Chapter 3

"What happened next, Uncle Fester?" Pugsley asked enthusiastically as he balanced precariously on his Uncle's knee whilst trying at the same time to set fire to Wednesday's plaits. It was now long past midnight, and the whole family had returned home – Mama, the children and Lurch had slept through the whole ordeal, and were now gathered in the family room with Fester, Morticia and Gomez, listening with rapt attention at the story Fester told. He had been terribly hard on himself throughout the retelling, but the Addams were a good sort, and they gently reassured him. Morticia and Gomez were curled up together on their sofa, Gomez particularly reluctant to leave her side for a second. It was several hours later, and his heart had yet to return to its normal rhythm, so great had his ordeal been.

"Very strange pictures in my head, I started to remember..." Fester tried to explain to his family how the memories of his youth had began to seep back into his consciousness, bought about in the end by the passionate utterances from Gomez. As his brother had spoken of his darling wife and his desire to protect her from harm, Fester had remembered the first time he had heard of this bewitching creature who was soon to be his sister-in-law. Gomez had returned to Balthazar's funeral mass after a good hour's absence, and sought out Fester. Unable to stop grinning, Gomez had pulled Morticia to his side and introduced her as his betrothed. From that moment on, Fester lived vicariously through the intense and all-consuming love story that played out in his very own home. He had been deliriously happy for his brother, but after a time had come to crave that kind of love and passion for himself. It had been just within his grasp, when the Amour Twins had been swept off their feet by Gomez instead.

As Fester relayed his memories to his family, Morticia gently kissed Gomez's cheek, well aware that any mentions of his chasing Fester away all those years ago still caused him pain. Fester noticed his brother's discomfort, and hoisted Pugsley to his shoulder in order to stride across the room and shake Gomez's hand.

"Water under the bridge," Fester grinned, placing Pugsley on the floor.

"My own dear brother!" Gomez exclaimed. "Children, promise me this. You will never let anything come between you as siblings. Family is too important."

"Yes Father," chorused the Addams' kids, Wednesday calmly smothering the flames dancing along one of her pigtails whilst her brother simultaneously lit the other on fire.

"But how did you get back to the library? And the shots..." Mama interjected, calling Wednesday to her side as she produced a knife and swiftly cut the burnt ends of hair away, before re-braiding them.

"I climbed up the slide," Fester confessed, feeling somewhat embarrassed at the huge effort he had put in to clambering up the winding helter skelter and back through the bookcase, now that he knew there had been a far more simple way of returning. But if he hadn't, who knows what may have happened.

"Pinderschloss and Tully were quite pleased to see me; I suppose they thought I had returned with the gold," Fester continued. "They were warming up pokers on the fire, and the gun was on the table near Tish..."

At the mere suggestion of this, Gomez bristled with anger and tightened his grip on his wife, who merely indulged his reactions with a smile.

"I think by then I had fully come to my senses. Everything was like a silent movie in my head; being lost in the Triangle, Pinderschloss finding me – or Abigail as she really was. Her moulding me into her son, the trickery, the deceit… nearly making me betray my own dear family. I fired two warning shots at them and being the cowards they were, they ran."

"Straight into our trap!" Pugsley chimed in proudly. He and Wednesday had diligently dug graves for the pair, and had stood by patiently as Pinderschloss and Tully had fallen headlong six feet under. Wednesday had instructed her brother, and together they had filled in the graves in silence.

"Mother and Father are very proud of you both," Morticia reassured her children, grateful for their part in the story.

"But Tisha..." Mama pressed, keen to hear the end of the tale. She had heard Gomez's cries of despair from the other end of the house, and had grown cold at the sound. By the time she had made it to the library, she had been overjoyed to see her daughter alive and well, albeit somewhat occupied with her husband.

"That's uh, that's my bad," Fester grinned apologetically at Morticia. "That second bullet bounced off the shield on the wall and hit Tish in the side. I couldn't see any blood, but I think she was just winded and bruised for the moment. I-I helped her down and was about to call for Mama when Gomez came in..."

"It will take more than a poxy scratch from a bullet to stop Mother," Wednesday spoke up from her usual position under the chair by the fire.

"True," said Gomez, his fingers gently tracing over the red mark left on his wife's side. He had originally been furious that her perfect skin had been marked by anyone but him, but that quickly changed to mere gratitude that it hadn't all ended differently.

These last few hours, days even, had been a living nightmare for Gomez, and not the good kind. But now, returned to his rightful place in his dear home, with his family surrounding him and most importantly his Morticia in his arms… what more could he ask?


End file.
